Inexperienced Chatsworth Held to 1 Hit in Loss to Bell

Tom Meusborn was dead serious. This time he really meant it, but there were more than a few disbelievers, nonetheless.

A few weeks ago, the Chatsworth High baseball coach remarked to co-workers in the physical education department that the school’s baseball team for 1993 was going to be greener than a frog.

Yeah, sure, they said.

Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge.

“They all said, “Uh-huh, that’s what you told us last year,’ ” Meusborn said.

After Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Bell in the quarterfinal round of the L.A. Watts Summer Games at Veterans Memorial Park in Commerce, Meusborn can say, “I told you so,” with a heavy heart.

Chatsworth, the defending baseball champion in the Watts Games, was held to one bloop single by sophomore right-hander Yamel Delgado, a shortstop who didn’t pitch in the spring.

Delgado, a 5-foot-10, 150-pound sapling who turned 16 two weeks ago, struck out 10 in the seven-inning game--even though he didn’t strike out a batter after the fifth. Delgado force-fed Chatsworth some Special K for breakfast.

“I think a lot of our young guys got a wake-up call about what it’s gonna take to play at the next level,” Meusborn said.

Delgado carried a no-hitter into the sixth before outfielder Mark Lopez, jammed on an inside pitch, fisted the ball into left-center for a single. Lopez, a returning All-City Section 4-A Division selection, also struck out twice and popped out with the bases loaded in the seventh for the final out.

Lopez was hardly alone. The Chatsworth starting lineup combined to put the ball in play four times over the first five innings.

Left-hander Ricky Staves, who along with Lopez will be a senior in the fall, was the Chancellors’ lone shining light. Staves, one of only five returning lettermen, gave up one run and three hits over the first five innings but was removed after surrendering a solo home run to Willie Mendez to open the sixth.

Bell, a City 3-A Division team, added an unearned run in the inning off reliever Tony Knight for a 3-0 lead.

Chatsworth, the West Valley League co-champion last spring, loaded the bases in the seventh on an error, a hit batsman and a walk, but Delgado retired Lopez to end the threat.

In short, Meusborn, who hoped his evaluation was wrong, was proved dead right. “I guess, more than anything, this gives us an indication of where we stand,” he said.

He just wishes, more than anything, that he could stand corrected.